Free APA 7 CrossRef DOI & Fake Reference Checker.

Large language models predict plausible-sounding word sequences rather than querying a live bibliographic database. When asked for literature reviews or APA 7 citations, they frequently combine real author surnames (e.g., Bandura, Creswell, Braun & Clarke) with invented article titles, wrong publication years, and plausible-looking DOI strings (such as 10.1037/... or 10.1016/...) that either return HTTP 404 in CrossRef or resolve to a completely unrelated medical or physics paper.

For every reference in your paper or pasted bibliography, the checker queries the official CrossRef REST API to verify: (a) whether the DOI exists and resolves, (b) whether the first author's surname, publication year, article title, and journal title match the registered publisher metadata, and (c) when you upload a full .docx, whether every in-text citation appears in the reference list and vice versa.

After running your free check above, click Have EnScribe Fix Them for Me (.docx). Your uploaded manuscript carries directly into the full 24-step AUTOMATA EnScribe pipeline, which repairs broken DOIs, replaces fabricated citations with real peer-reviewed studies, enforces APA 7 Table 6.5 statistical italics and heading rules, and returns a revised Word file with native Tracked Changes and inline margin comments.